Population Redistribution and Migration of Asian Americans, 1970-1980.

Kan, Stephen H.; Liu, William T.

This paper uses 1980 Census data to assess the patterns of population redistribution and migration of Asian Americans. Analyzing migration flows, it argues that Asian Americans who immigrated to the United States before 1975 followed a national trend of regional population shift from the Northeast and the North Central to the West and South. However, it is asserted that heavy immigration exerts a strong inverse effect on the redistribution of this population; in 1980, as compared to 1970, it is determined, the West declined in its proportion of Asian population, while the Northeast and the South gained. With the exception of Japanese Americans, all major Asian American groups are said to be much more mobile than Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics, especially in terms of long-distance mobility. It is hypothesized that variations in mobility among individual Asian American groups are related to their length of settlement in the United States, and their level of current immigration. Finally, Asian Americans, who have long been a highly urbanized population, are generally thought now to be settling in suburbs rather than central cities, a point which could not be clarified with the available data. The remainder of this paper contains five statistical tables: (1) Asian Population: 1980 and 1970; (2) Regional Population Distribution by Race, 1980 and 1970; (3) Regional Population Movement by Race and Spanish Origin, 1975-1980; (4) Types of Geographic Mobility by Race and Spanish Origin, 1975-1980; and (5) Migration Streams by Race and Spanish Origin, 1975-1980. (KH)